Search - Wigwam :: Live Music from the Twilight Zone

Hot band from Finland

Nipistys | Canada | 07/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Wigwam is to Finland what the Guess Who is to Canada, except Wigwam never broke into the US market. Led by British expatriate Jim Pembroke on vocals and piano, Wigwam ran the gamut from art rock to heavy pop, and points in between. Wigwam dominated the Finnish music scene from about 1969 to 1977, releasing 7 studio albums and a live album. Reunions in 1993 and 2001 produced 2 new studio albums and another live album. An excellent 2-CD compilation of singles, b-sides and live rarities was released in 2000. With the exception of a couple of early singles and one side of their debut album, all their music was sung in English rather than Finnish. This 1975 album was one of the group's biggest sellers. In an unusual move for a live album, this disc does not include any previously recorded Wigwam material, instead relying on covers of songs by The Beatles (Let it Be), John Lennon (Imagine), The Band (The Moon Struck One), a couple of old blues numbers (Help Me/Checkin' Up on my Baby), as well as tracks from solo albums by Pembroke (Grass for Blades), bassist Pekka Pohjola (Nipistys)and two new tracks from guitarist Pekka "Rekku" Rechardt (Groundswell, Pig Storm). (Studio versions of two cuts, Pig Storm and Grass for Blades, were later recorded by Wigwam.) This album marked a period of transition for the band, with the first appearance of Rechardt on a Wigwam album and the final recordings with Pohjola and keyboardist Jukka Gustavson. Pembroke and drummer Ronnie Osterberg were constants during Wigwam's main run from 1969-1977. Osterberg died in 1980. In recent years, Gustavson has been known to sit in with the band on occasion as they play dates around Finland."